of cultural festivals and butler cafés
by bubblegumwine
Summary: "If not for the customers, then smile for me—okay?" —and everything else goes downhill from there. SilverKotone, Hibiki.


**a/n:** despite my love for the game, i have never written a pokemon fic to save my life, no joke. so if i screwed up the characterizations of anyone—yeah, that's why ;;

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"This is ridiculous."

"No, _you're_ being ridiculous. Now, keep quiet or I'll jab you with this needle through your clothes."

Silence.

"...but this is seriously just—_fuck!_ That really hurt, dammit—"

"_Language!_"

More silence.

"Alright, I'm done—now get out there and knock 'em dead!"

"H-hey—!"

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**of cultural festivals and butler cafés**  
_happy birthday, fafar-senpai!_

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He stumbles through the curtains of the makeshift dressing room, nearing tripping over his own two feet before managing to catch himself in time. With a grumble, he turns back around to glare at the immerging smaller figure.

Kotone dusts her hands off and places them on her hips, surveying her handiwork critically.

A boy stands there and tugs at the cuffs of his sleeves, looking impeccably dressed in his clean-pressed clothes. The sinewy lines of his shoulders are accentuated by the form-fitting suit, with the red-striped tie to complete the look.

His gleaming silver eyes are framed by softly-falling red hair, which has been pulled back into a small ponytail at the base of his neck with a silky black ribbon.

If not for that god-awful scowl on his face and his constant fidgeting, Kotone would have given the boy an A+ for attire.

"Hey," she says, leaning forward to prod gently at his cheeks, "hey, smile, won't you? You're about to serve customers, not attending the funeral of your step-cousin-twice-removed."

Silver's scowl deepens further, if that's even possible. "I don't even _have_ a step-cousin-twice-removed," he complains, and she has to fight back the urge to giggle—he looks just like a sulky kid whose candy got taken away from him.

"That's not the point and you know it," Kotone laughs, clapping her tiny hands onto his much broader shoulders. "If not for the customers, then smile for me—okay?"

The boy swats at her hands before turning away. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

She notices the tinge of pink colouring his ears, and she smiles.

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Their classroom-turned-butler-café is a huge hit, especially since they have two special weapons with them in the form of hot boys in suits.

"Welcome to Café Amor," Hibiki greets the group of starstruck girls at the front door with a slight bow and a playful wink, looking very suave and comfortable in his own suit and yellow-striped tie.

Maybe he _was_ a real butler in his previous life—you'll never know.

In the other corner of the room, though, is a whole other story altogether.

"E-excuse me..."

"_What._"

She squeaks. "I-I just wanted to know the s-specials you have here..."

The clean line of the redhead's jaw tightens, making the poor girl squirm in her seat, and he looks ready to snap at her again—

But then he meets felt-brown eyes from across the room, giving him this _come-on-play-nice_ kind of expression.

Silver sighs heavily. "We have the double-fudge sundaes and ice-cold slushies. I wouldn't recommend the floats, though—they were kind of experimental and may or may not have mentos dropped in them."

"Oh." The girl blinks. "Oh, um—thank you. I'll have the..."

A while later, he returns with the order, setting it down carefully. Then he remembers.

'_If not for the customers, then smile for me—okay?'_

Oh, what the hell—why not.

"Enjoy your meal," Silver says, smiling faintly, like the gentle unfurling of flower petals in the morning sun.

He walks away, not noticing the girl choking on her drink nor Kotone smiling approvingly from where she's cleaning the tables.

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It quickly gets out of hand when word gets around.

Kotone frowns as she leans against the wall, watching the commotion and biting on her lower lip absently.

"What's gotten your smile upside-down, sweetheart?"

"Hibiki," she greets automatically, blinking at the sudden appearance of her close friend next to her. "Aren't you supposed to be serving?"

"Nah, just got off my shift," he replies, running a hand through his hair. He glances at her, a smirk tucked at the corner of his lips. "Too bad Silver's too busy to get off his, huh?"

True enough, the redhead is absolutely swarmed by girls, who are enthusiastically ordering from him left and right, flustering the poor boy.

Kotone stops nibbling on her own lip, which is red and slightly swollen from how hard she's bitten it. "It's good that our café's in such high demand," she says instead, smoothly redirecting the subject.

"Indeed, it is," Hibiki nods, without missing a beat. The look in his eye suggests that this conversation isn't over, but he'll let it slide for now.

Just then, Silver's gaze swivels over to the two of them for a moment.

A smile curls on her lips as she waves, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes.

'_It's good that he's popular, but—why does my heart feel like it's about to burst?'_

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Nearly another hour flies by, and the crowd doesn't appear to be letting up anytime soon.

Right now, there's this customer at the café—a girl. She's got voluminous hair and bright eyes and a gorgeous figure, and she knows it, too—knows how to use her good looks to its full potential.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she says innocently, as her fork clatters to the floor in front of Silver. She bends over in that tight little dress of hers, and the eyes of almost all other butlers are on her.

The redhead barely bats an eye and moves on, but that's a small comfort in the big picture.

Kotone looks down at herself—at her ratty old oversized T-shirt and skinny jeans, at her petite frame and even tinier chest—and gnaws on her lip.

She's never been one to be so insecure or anything, but something about this whole thing is making her feel so snappish and jumpy and just—_god._

That girl just tripped accidentally-on-purpose and landed on Silver, who freezes up and goes completely red in the face—out of embarrassment, she's pretty sure.

Without a backward glance, Kotone throws down her dishrag and stalks off through the back door of the café.

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Officially, this has to be the Worst Day Ever, Silver decides grimly, as he serves yet another girl who's batting her eyelashes like she's got something stuck in her eye.

He doesn't know how stupid-ass Hibiki does it on a daily basis, but even smiling just a bit at appropriate times is exhausting. He even caught said stupid-ass talking to Kotone like they're besties just now, and that had really bothered him.

Something about her smile seemed... off, somehow—he's still trying to figure out what.

And of course that stupid girl with the hideously small dress just _has_ to crash into him like some idiotic bimbo—seriously, if you can't walk in heels, then don't wear them at all, sheesh. It isn't that hard to figure out, is it?

Silver half-expects his cheerful little friend-rival-thing to come up to him and make a big fuss, to check him over for injuries, but—he just catches the glimpse of her tiny back fleeing out of the classroom.

What the fuck?

He doesn't even bother with the whining bimbo—he's already running after the one who really matters.

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Silver soon finds her huddled in an empty stairwell, a small little figure curled up in the corner. His eyebrow twitches as he approaches her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing here, you little—" He stops when she turns.

Kotone's expressive brown eyes are bright—with tears.

"O-oi," he manages, trying not to sound as dumbfounded as he felt. "Why are you crying?" He crouches down to her level, eyeing her for any broken bones or anything.

The girl sniffles. "Wha—Silver? What are you doing here?" She scrubs at her eyes and offers a smile. "You have customers waiting for you—"

"What happened?" His question isn't harsh, just terribly frank. He cuts in before she can open her mouth, "And don't you gimme that _'nothing's wrong everything's all sunshine and daisies'_ shit—just spit it out already."

Kotone looks mildly affronted at his colourful words through her tears, before her shoulders slump further. "You're popular," she says miserably. "You can be popular anytime you want to, you can have any girl you want to, and yet—I feel like I'm holding you back." She shrugs helplessly, feeling water prick at her eyes again.

The redhead rolls his eyes. "_This_ is why you're crying? Oh, for the love of—" He extends his index finger and flicks her on the forehead.

"H-hey!"

"You are such an idiot, you know that?" Silver scolds. "I don't give two shits about being popular. I didn't even want to do this butler thing—_you_ convinced me to, remember?"

At her small squeak of acknowledgement, he continues grudgingly, "And I did it because... because I thought it would make you—_happy._" He ruffles his hair, colour spilling over his cheekbones. "And apparently you _aren't_ happy, even though you suggested this whole fiasco. Goddamn, why are you so complicated?"

She laughs through her tears at his flustered expression, before wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "Thank you, Silver," she whispers at his ear, her voice warm and sweet like sunshine.

The redhead flails a bit, as if wondering whether or not to throw her off of him. "W-whatever!" He splutters, the blush spreading all the way down to his neck and ears.

And so, everything is alright in their world again.

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**owari.**

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**a/n:** this was so rushed that i forgot about the (very short) disclaimer—um, whoops?

disclaimer: i do not own Pokemon.


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